MIDDOS MASTERY!
Did you know? NO ONE likes to be judged badly. Think of how you would feel…
A sefer was loose and fell off the bookcase. It knocked over a fancy vase. You jump up right away to sweep it up, just as your older sister comes into the room. “What did you do?!” You broke my favorite vase! I’m going to tell Mommy! ” How would you feel?
Imagine you had been judged with the ”Eyes of the Bardichever.” Your sister may have asked: “Oy! what happened? Are you okay?”
Would you feel different?
Let’s try to judge other Yidden favorably, like Reb Levi Yitzchok!
Rav Levi Yitzchok of Bardichev, also known as the Bardichever, was called the “Saneigorin shel Yisrael,” the defender of Klal Yisrael.
What does that mean? And how can we “defend Klal Yisrael?”
When a Jew does something “wrong” he creates a malach, a Heavenly angel that “tattles“ on him to Hashem. When a Jew does the “right thing”, a malach goes to report the nachas to Hashem. The way we look at other Jews can decide what kind of malach is created. When we see the good, we create good malachim that protect Klal Yisrael. It’s how we will win this war and keep Klal Yisrael protected!
AN AMAZING STORY!
The Bardichever would always look for the good in other Yidden, even when the good was extremely hard to find.
Outside the local shtiebel, a Yid was cleaning the wheels of his wagon… while he was wearing his tallis and tefillin! Most people walked by and said: “What a disgrace! This is disrespectful to such holy objects!”
Someone called out: “The Bardichever is coming!” They wanted to see how the Rebbe would tell this Yid to stop his despicable behavior.
Rav Levi Yitzchok took one look at the Yid and exclaimed, “Hashem! look how much your children love You! They don’t stop thinking of you, even for a second. Even while they are cleaning their wagons, they are thinking of you and davening; wearing a tallis and tefillin!
Rav Levi Yitzchok saw that really this Yid didn’t mean to treat his tefillin with disrespect. He saw his neshamah, and he knew that a Yid’s neshamah is pure. Maybe he was just distracted, or he didn’t know the halachah. Maybe he was even doing something extremely holy! Against all the accusers who “knew” this Jew was doing something wrong, Rav Levi Yitzchok looked at his pure neshomah and defended yet another Jew.
When we see a friend or a sibling doing something “wrong,” can we look at them with The Eyes of the Bardichever?
This article was found in Nekuda Tova Issue 9.
